Man and dog hailed as heroes after saving two girls from frozen river

A dog from Edmonton Canada has been hailed as a hero along with his owner after they rescued two young girls who fell through some ice on a river.

The girls , who are 9 and 10-years-old, were playing on the ice on the North Saskatchewan River on Sunday afternoon when they fell into the water.

Adam Shaw, 27, had been out walking his dog, an eight-year-old lab-husky named Rocky, with his family when he heard the girls screaming.

Shaw told CTV Edmonton: “I yelled to them to try and get their attention, trying to tell them to hang onto the ice and I was going to come down and get them.”

Shaw and Rocky then scrambled through deep snow on a steep bank to reach the river ice while Shaw’s wife called 911.

One of the girls was pulled to safety by Shaw, however, the other girl was quickly swept away by the current. Then, Shaw and Rocky both fell into the freezing water.

The pair then managed to clamber onto the ice and again attempted to get near the second girl who was still in the water.

"I started to look around and I couldn't see her. She had gone underneath the water and I thought she was gone,” Shaw said. “She popped up ... down the river and she was still screaming and I started to run after her again.”

When they had managed to get nearer Shaw put a leash around Rocky and pushed him into the water. The brave dog then swam after the girl, who managed to grab his leash so she could be pulled to safety.

Both girls were then taken to hospital where they were treated for hypothermia and released. The mother of the two girls said she learned just how dangerous the situation was while her girls were in hospital.

According to the mother, the doctors said that the girls were saved with just a few minutes remaining.

Shaw and Rocky have both been hailed as heroes, and Shaw continued: “After it all happened, we were sitting on the shore and he's a pretty active dog, he's usually running around and stuff, but he came and sat down beside me and beside the girl and he didn't move.

“When the rescue team actually approached us, he was growling at them, which is kind of out of the ordinary for him, so I think he was a little scared for me or something."

For their heroic efforts, Shaw received a fire rescue helmet from Edmonton Fire Chief Ken Block. Rocky received a rawhide bone.

Shaw said the incident didn’t really hit him until later that evening.

"My family came over and we started talking about it, how it could have gone a lot differently. That's when it started to sink in. It worked out well,” he said.